Purple Line alignment still up in the air

Although the university is advocating for an alternative Purple Line route that would run partially undergound, MTA officials maintain Campus Drive is the best solution for an on-campus route.

The university and the Maryland Transit Administration, which have been at odds over the Purple Line's placement since its inception, are not any closer to reaching an agreement on where the rail system would run through the campus. After the MTA deemed Preinkert Drive alignment — which has been billed as the university's choice alternative by administrators — unsafe for pedestrians, the university asked the MTA to evaluate the possibility of running a partly underground line along a similar route, MTA officials said.

Purple Line Project Manager Mike Madden said the MTA agreed to review the university's proposal but does not support it because it raises even more pedestrian safety issues. The MTA has long been opposed to an underground alignment because it is extremely costly and could jeopardize the whole project, Madden said.

"We have made it clear to the university that an underground alignment is not a viable option," he said.

But Vice President for Administrative Affairs Ann Wylie said while she had discussed the possibility of an underground alignment with MTA officials, she never directly asked for an evaluation of an underground alternative and had received the details of the plan the same day she was informed the Preinkert Drive option was off the table.

"I was actually surprised when they gave me the underground alignment plans," she said. "They've always said it was too expensive. They've said from the beginning that they want it down Campus Drive."

But once Wylie reviewed MTA's report on an underground option, she said it became clear that constructing a partially submerged rail line was the best solution for the university.

"It's absolutely more favorable," she said. "I believe Campus Drive is an unacceptable option. We don't have an alternative. We had advocated for the Preinkert alignment, but it wasn't acceptable to them, and Campus Drive is an unacceptable option to us."

At Wednesday's University Senate meeting, Wylie presented the below-ground option to the university's highest advisory body as a new alternative.

According to Wylie, the new line, following a path similar to the Preinkert Drive alignment, would run above ground on Campus Drive until it reached the Art-Sociology Building. It would then run underground behind Tydings, Francis Scott Key and Marie Mount halls before emerging on the east side of Regents Drive by the Lee Building and continuing on to East Campus, Wylie said.

Wylie told senators the MTA is opposed to building underground lines because it won't support spending so much money just to satisfy the needs of the university — the cost estimate the MTA determined for the underground alignment was $96 million. Madden said the MTA explored the university's proposal further as an act of good faith.

Also at the senate meeting, Wylie referenced a transit system built through the University of Minnesota, which is similar to the Purple Line.

"Now that the train is coming through they have 42-inch-high fences everywhere through the middle of their campus, except where they have stoplights that allow car crossing and pedestrian crossing," she said, comparing the situation to what could possibly happen at this university if the Campus Drive alignment is chosen.

But that train has not yet been constructed.

To mitigate the costs associated with building an underground line, Wylie said, a developer — Clark Construction Group LLC — has built a light-rail system underground at San Diego State University using a method called "cut and cover" that is cheaper than boring a tunnel. Clark Construction Group has estimated they could build the alignment using this method at this university for $42 million, she said.

Wylie said she hasn't had the chance to suggest this alternative to the MTA but is hopeful it's something they will consider.

"I'd like very much to work with them to make the underground alignment possible," she said.

The university has emphasized pedestrian safety and the preservation of campus aesthetics as why Campus Drive wouldn't be a suitable location for the rail line. Due to electromagnetic vibrations the train may emit, administrators have said running the Purple Line so close to laboratories and other academic buildings could pose a danger to sensitive scientific instruments located in the science buildings near Campus Drive.

Madden said the MTA presented a technically sound mitigation plan that would address these electrical concerns for the Campus Drive alignment, but Wylie said preserving the university's research facilities remained a top priority.

"We wrote them a letter that said what we wanted was the environment that we had today," she said. "Our science enterprise is very important to the future of our university and state. We asked them to meet the existing standards of our university. We set up an internal university committee. ... We've been meeting with the MTA regularly, trying to see if the requests we made could be met."

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